Attachment 4: Historic Yonge Street HCD – History and Evolution
History and Evolution of the Study Area
This section examines the history and evolution of the HCD study area. It draws on research that was completed as part of a built form and landscape survey, and background research of historical documents including maps from key periods in Toronto’s history.
Key Development Periods
Yonge Street’s History is characterized by its dual role as a major transportation route and a commercial main street. These roles connect several different periods in its history and solidify its importance to Toronto, Ontario, and Canada. From its initial survey as a transportation route between the Town of York and Lake Simcoe in 1796, Yonge Street was intended to drive the economy of when Toronto was incorporated in 1834, but it also emerged as a key commercial street in the new city, especially as the population swelled and development pushed northward. The weight of Yonge Street’s history is demonstrated in it being known informally as “Toronto’s Main Street”.
For the purposes of this report the history of the study area has been divided into seven periods:
• The Natural Landscape and Aboriginal Occupation • Initial Survey of Yonge Street • Early Settlement and Establishment of Park Lots (1800-1850) • Sub-Division of Park Lots (1850-1870) • Main Street Development and Early Public Transportation (1870-1900) • !"## !"$#% • Subway Construction and Modern Redevelopment (1930-1970) • 1970s to Present Day (1970-present)
Historic Yonge Street Heritage Conservation District 1 Figure 1. Plan of York drawn by Lieutenant Phillpotts of the Royal Engineers, surveyed in 1818 drawn in 1823. For context, the street to the west marked with “Reserve” is Lot Street which would later be renamed Queen Street. It shows the extent of development in Toronto (then York) at that time.
The Natural Landscape and Aboriginal missionaries traveling to and from Huronia. There are vague Occupation accounts of two Aboriginal sites located in the general vicinity of the study area. The Taddle Creek site is thought to have been a Late Woodland village located at Clover Hill, and later, the former Davenport Road, at the north end of the HCD study area follows estate of John Elmsley, which was eventually developed for the shore of glacial Lake Iroquois, which came into existence St. Michael’s College University. The Sandhill site is reportedly around 12,000 years ago (Chapman and Putnam 1984). The a burial site or cemetery located near the southwest corner of waters of this lake then gradually receded to such an extent that the intersection of Yonge Street and Bloor Street (Scadding 1873, by roughly 3,000 years ago the shoreline was established more 399-400). or less in the location at which it stood when the Town of York was founded. A number of minor creeks ran through the general study area prior to nineteenth and twentieth century urban development. A minor tributary of Taddle Creek rose in the area &